Claiming a Sacred Face: The Role of Spirituality and Cultural Identity in Transformative Adult Higher Education

This article discusses the results of a study examining the role of spirituality in developing a positive cultural identity among a multicultural group of 31 adult educators and what the findings suggest for a spiritually grounded and culturally relevant approach to pedagogy. Findings of the study focus on the role of spirituality in (a) dealing with internalized oppression and reclaiming cultural identity, (b) mediating among multiple identities, (c) crossing culture to facilitate spiritual development, and (d) unconscious knowledge-construction processes that are connected to image, symbol, and ritual that are often cultural. Implications for practice include the importance of (a) the authenticity of teachers and students; (b) an environment that allows for the exploration of the cognitive, the affective or relational, and the symbolic or spiritual domains; and (c) the limitations of the adult learning environment and that transformation is an ongoing process that takes time.